Authorities yesterday suspended the operation to salvage oil tanker MT Meherjan that capsized with about 700 tonnes of fuel following a collision with cargo vessel MV Fazlul Huq-3 at Kaliganj-Gobindapur point of the Meghna River on July 25 night.

"We have postponed the salvage activities till improvement of the overall weather condition including river current, and removal of other obstacles," said AKM Arif Uddin, deputy secretary (Administration) of BIWTA, also coordinator of the salvage operation titled 'Operation Meher'.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) salvage vessels Hamza and Rustam, navy ship BNS Soikat and all other vessels and the teams engaged in salvage operation left the spot this evening," he said yesterday.

Earlier on Thursday, the authorities announced a 72-hour 'Operation Meher' following a joint meeting of the officials of navy, coastguard, and BIWTA, and representatives of the oil tanker and others concerned on BIWTA ship Shandhani.

But repeated failure in starting the rescue attempt has led to postponement ofa the operation, Arif Uddin said, adding that members of the salvage team termed several factors including inclement weather, spread of huge fishing nets, heavy siltation on the sunken tanker and lack of adequate logistics as hindrance to the operation.